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It depends on exactly how you like to play, but the biggest differences that jumped out at me were visuals (Serato doesn't look as good IMO, and the exact same view as traktor isn't a thing) and that the effects controls were different.

It depends on exactly how you like to play, but the biggest differences that jumped out at me were visuals (Serato doesn't look as good IMO, and the exact same view as traktor isn't a thing) and that the effects controls were different.

Why do you want to make the switch?

I really don't like Serato's UI. The software is also super rigid, so there's no customising to suit your needs. It's basically Serato's way, or the highway. I know that suits a lot of people, but it really isn't for me.

It could replace my DJM-850, Dicers, MC-1000 and F1 in one convenient box.

Space is at a premium right now!

Fair enough.

One thing you might consider...the S9 is also supposed to work with Rekordbox now. And I at least have been a lot happier with rekordbox than I ever was with serato (despite buying and selling it over and over again since around 2006 when I was dissatisfied with Traktor for one reason or another).

So, there's a way out if you just don't like Serato. If you want to try it out, Rekordbox is free for 30 days and will work with all of your existing equipment as well, though you'll likely have to map everything. Except for the 8-segment display on the F1, everything should be pretty straightforward, though.

Originally Posted by happydan

I really don't like Serato's UI. The software is also super rigid, so there's no customising to suit your needs. It's basically Serato's way, or the highway. I know that suits a lot of people, but it really isn't for me.

Yeah...I feel that. I'm not sure what customizations I'd personally want to do that it can't do, though. There's just something about it that makes me less happy than Traktor or Rekordbox, and I've never really been able to put my finger on it.

I guess when I think back over the reasons I switched back and forth, it was largely about them leapfrogging each other for small capability things (that mostly didn't end up mattering) until it got to the point that they were both capable of everything I wanted to do....and somehow Traktor still comes out on top. I am slightly surprised that basically all of the people who's core setup conists of linking Traktor and Live don't use Bridge (e.g., Richie Hawtin, Dubfire, etc.). I guess the Push controllers show enough information that other preferences take precedence.

The only thing I can think of that I do regularly with Traktor that Serato (and kind of rekordbox) doesn't appear to be able to do boils down to the D2s being kind of awesome (even though they're overkill for me) and mapping a controller to change the UI view to hide a bunch of stuff I don't need to see very often (but still want available).

That and the particular way traktor does "beats to cue" on the deck headers is flat-out better than the similar functionality in anything else. As far as I'm concerned, that's it's #1 feature, the reason I switched from Live to Traktor several years ago, and the thing that will keep me with it despite no advancements or hardware releases for a couple years.

One thing you might consider...the S9 is also supposed to work with Rekordbox now. And I at least have been a lot happier with rekordbox than I ever was with serato (despite buying and selling it over and over again since around 2006 when I was dissatisfied with Traktor for one reason or another).

So, there's a way out if you just don't like Serato. If you want to try it out, Rekordbox is free for 30 days and will work with all of your existing equipment as well, though you'll likely have to map everything. Except for the 8-segment display on the F1, everything should be pretty straightforward, though.

Yeah...I feel that. I'm not sure what customizations I'd personally want to do that it can't do, though. There's just something about it that makes me less happy than Traktor or Rekordbox, and I've never really been able to put my finger on it.

I guess when I think back over the reasons I switched back and forth, it was largely about them leapfrogging each other for small capability things (that mostly didn't end up mattering) until it got to the point that they were both capable of everything I wanted to do....and somehow Traktor still comes out on top. I am slightly surprised that basically all of the people who's core setup conists of linking Traktor and Live don't use Bridge (e.g., Richie Hawtin, Dubfire, etc.). I guess the Push controllers show enough information that other preferences take precedence.

The only thing I can think of that I do regularly with Traktor that Serato (and kind of rekordbox) doesn't appear to be able to do boils down to the D2s being kind of awesome (even though they're overkill for me) and mapping a controller to change the UI view to hide a bunch of stuff I don't need to see very often (but still want available).

That and the particular way traktor does "beats to cue" on the deck headers is flat-out better than the similar functionality in anything else. As far as I'm concerned, that's it's #1 feature, the reason I switched from Live to Traktor several years ago, and the thing that will keep me with it despite no advancements or hardware releases for a couple years.

The thing that annoyed me most was not being able to customise what is displayed in the decks.

The DJM-S9 works with RekordBox DJ as well. I left Traktor for Rekordbox DJ. I flirted with Serato a lot throughout the years, but it never felt like something "musical" if that makes sense.

I use Rekordbox Dj With a Mixars Duo MK2 (Bought it since it is pretty much a clone of the Z2) and haven't gone back to Traktor since.

I have had a few opportunites to play on DJM S9's, and they are amazing. I love the feel, the layout, and overall build quality. The pads are quite responsive and the toggles are rotatable to match your preference.

I guess 1 advantage with Serato over Traktor would be the parallel waveforms. A couple of times in clubs, we've had dropouts or problems with monitoring which is when beatmatching visually becomes useful and saves the night.

Having said that, I've seen some Serato users come in with a huge expensive controller and arrogantly say they manually beat match. And subsequently observe them moving the jog wheels constantly looking at the waveforms, sometimes even without headphones for the whole set